School Landscapes Strategies

The BIG Landscape eXperiment

The BIG Landscape eXperiment (BLeX) is an award winning resource available to secondary schools as well as designers. Trials have clearly demonstrated its potential for:

promoting creative thinking about the design, use and layout of school's outdoor spaces.

testing out ideas and explore new possibilities for those spaces before making permanent changes.

In addition the BLeX can be used to develop new opportunities for:

teaching and learning with its positive impacts on attainment, achievement and attendance

socialising, fun and play

engaging the whole school as well as neighbours and the wider community

establishing a creative dialogue between young people and designers of the natural and built environment

The BLeX was conceived by Hampshire County Council's Schools Landscape Programme. The team have worked with Quilley School of Engineering, Eastleigh, and artist-led company "Snug and Outdoor" to develop prototype resources for use by schools as well as design professionals.

What is the BLeX?

The BLeX gives schools the opportunity to turn their outdoor spaces into a flexible and experimental environment for a temporary period. This provides a chance for the whole school to explore new ways of using the outdoor spaces or test out ideas for new design before making more permanent changes.

The equipment includes:

Foam blocks

Outdoor carpets

Parasols

Read more about how to Get involved including a promotional leaflet and inspirational DVD for sharing the idea with others.

Explore Your BLeX to access a range of resources to support your activity and make links with learning.